Bithumb, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, is set to establish a securities-based token exchange in the U.S.
Bithumb signed a partnership with an American FinTech company called seriesOne on the 31st of October and announced that it will be making investments and provide technical support to set up a securities-based token exchange in the U.S. seriesOne is going to receive an approval from SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) sometime during first half of 2019 and is planning to set up a securities-based token exchange in the U.S. Bithumb is going to provide relevant technical support and will be responsible for managing this exchange.
seriesOne selected Bithumb, which has technologies and knowhow in cryptocurrency exchange, as its technical partner.
To establish a securities-based token exchange, one has to obtain ATS (Alternative Trading System) license from SEC. It is absolute must to have a partner with relevant technical skills to obtain this license.
Securities-based token is a securities with blockchain-based Smart Contract.
It securitizes assets such as real estate, natural resources, and media contents into tokens and distributes profits to investors depending on whether a project is successful or not. It can also be traded at an exchange just like a stock.
seriesOne, which was established in 2013, is a company that received an approval from SEC for official crowd funding. It focuses on crowd funding, blockchain, and STO (Securities Token Offering) and its strengths are in real estate and media contents. It is planning to issue securities-based tokens in the future according to SEC’s regulations. It also established seriesOne Korea as a bridgehead for it to target Asian markets.
seriesOne submitted documents to SEC to be listed on unlisted stock trade market by end of this year. It is planning to be listed on NASDAQ during second half of 2019 to satisfy relevant regulations as soon as its securities-based token exchange is established. When this takes place, Bithumb will be the first South Korean exchange to be listed on an American capital market.
“seriesOne asked us to be its partner after searching for an appropriate exchange all over the world.” said a representative for Bithumb. “Because we expect that assets will be turned into blockchain-based tokens throughout the world, we are going to continue to develop our technologies and knowhow so that we can grow as a global financial company.”
Staff Reporter Gil, Jaeshik | osolgil@etnews.com